So What is the Big Deal About Member to Member Gaps? Glenn Traylor Compliance with ANSI/TPI 1–2014 requires maintaining member to member gaps at less than 1/4 inch. An exception would be for floor truss chord splices where the limit is 1/16 inch. Let us take a look at two different situations, the first being a roof truss and the second being a 4 x 2... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 30
All Things Wood: How to Predict a Bouncy Floor Frank Woeste Background The model International Residential Code (IRC) permits a design live load of 30 psf for “sleeping rooms.” The model codes specify 40 psf for all other rooms. Of the annoying floor vibration complaints we have received, the most common scenario stems from the use... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 68
Installation Errors – They Happen Paul McEntee A few years ago, we created an article on creative uses of our products. Most of the uses shown were artistic, or functional do-it-yourself projects, with one odd car spoiler modification. This week, I was reviewing some slides in a presentation that I give a few times a year regarding product... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 84
Mass Timber Construction – Building for the Future Fred Tai The future is here. It is common knowledge that wood is a renewable and environmentally friendly building material. There are two types of wood-framing methods in North America. The most common method for residential construction is light-frame construction using either balloon-framing or... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 76
All Things Wood: Impact of Sustained Elevated Temperature on Wood Frank Woeste Unlike solid-sawn lumber, the mechanical properties of some materials are greatly affected by ambient temperatures and solar-radiation heating, as depicted by the photograph. However, while the engineering design properties of solid-sawn lumber are not affected by ambient temperatures, they can... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 66
How to Pick a Connector Series: Selecting a Joist Hanger Randy Shackelford A quick glance through the Simpson Strong-Tie® Wood Construction Connectors catalog shows that we manufacture at least 29 different models of face-mount wood-to-wood joist hangers, three separate models of face-mount wood-to-masonry hangers, 42 different models of top-flange wood-to-wood... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 76
All Things Wood: Heavy Timber with "Heavy Connection" Frank Woeste Photo taken at a restaurant in Maine located on the first floor of a historic textile mill building. Such buildings were constructed in the 1860-65 timeframe. The column is about 18”x18” and apparently continues upward into the next floor (or floors). The side mounted connection was... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 59
Snow Loading for Trusses: Why Specifying a Roof Snow Load Isn’t Enough Kelly Sias “Winning is about having the whole team on the same page.” Bill Walton You might wonder what a quote about winning basketball games could possibly have to do with snow loading on trusses. As with basketball, the importance of close teamwork also applies to a project... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 70
Question of the Day: Bottom Chords and Gable End Frames Stan Sias Why do some still insist on placing flat bottom chord gable end frames adjacent to vaulted or scissor trusses when the codes clearly do not allow such framing without special engineering requirements? Can you point me to the code sections that say “No, thank you!”? This is a... Read More January 2017 Issue #10210 Page 34
A Tale of Two Houses: Design Loads for Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses Kelly Sias Take two trusses with identical profiles and environmental surroundings, and they should have the same design loads, right? Early in my career, I recall hearing a story about two identical buildings right next to each other that were designed for two different magnitudes of environmental loads.... Read More January 2017 Issue #10210 Page 72